I recently tried using the backup tool w 4.2.5 as a Live-CD. The first problem was the program freezing when I tried to backup to my hda1 (NTFS formatted hard drive). Then I plugged in a USB pen drive and the backup tool seemed to accept this and a backup.tar.gz file was generated. I used the system for a while longer, customizing the JWM theme and downloading Abiword. Then I rebooted without using a restore code and noted no obvious change in the configuration.Is it necessary to use a restore option at the boot prompt? What is restorable with this tool vs other tools for retaining customizations (mounting, bootlocal file editing)? Is there an explanation better than I have seen in the book or WIKI?

You can't write to NTFS partitions - that is why that didn't work. How did you reboot? If you selected the 'Exit' icon on the desktop (or from the menu) you should have got a box that gave you the option to back-up or not back up via a checkbox. So long as the checkbox was ticked you should have seen a backup being done as it shut down before rebooting.

Have you got any other backup.tar.gz files on any other drives as the boot process searches through the drives & uses the first one it comes across, unless you tell it otherwise. You can use the restore=sdaX boot code to force it to use a particular drive for finding the backup file (sdaX can be replaced by whatever your drive is, e.g. hda1, hdc5, sda8, ....... - your usb drive is most likely sda1 - check this by right clicking one of the desktop icons & looking at the mounts available - you mustn't use the '/mnt/' in the boot code - also make sure that this is the same name you used in the backup too, again without the '/mnt/' suffix!)

I still don't get any apparent restoration of custom changes when I use a flash drive and the dsl restore=sda1 boot code.

Consider this a bump to get more replies/info about what I am doing wrong or if the stuff I am trying to restore is not restorable with this tool.

Thanks in advance.

You should see the restore function kick in during the boot process.Files saved are listed in .filetool.lst. You can backup at any time with system/backup menu. Is your flash drive mounted before backing up?